Representative Text

1 I feel the winds of God today;
today my sail I lift,
though heavy oft with drenching spray
and torn with many a rift;
if hope but light the water’s crest,
and Christ my bark will use,
I’ll seek the seas at his behest,
and brave another cruise.

2 It is the wind of God that dries
my vain regretful tears,
until with braver thoughts shall rise
the purer, brighter years;
if cast on shores of selfish ease
or pleasure I should be,
O let me feel your freshening breeze,
and I’ll put back to sea.

3 If ever I forget your love
and how that love was shown,
lift high the blood-red flag above;
it bears your name alone.
Great pilot of my onward way,
you wilt not let me drift;
I feel the winds of God today;
today my sail I lift.

Author: Jessie Adams

Adams, Jessie. (Ipswitch, Suffolk, England, September 9, 1863-July 15, 1954, York). Society of Friends. She preferred to remain anonymous. She was a progressive teacher and a leader of the local adult school in Frimley, England.
--Don Hustad, DNAH Archives Go to person page >

Text Information

Tune

Thought by some scholars to date back to the Middle Ages, KINGSFOLD is a folk tune set to a variety of texts in England and Ireland. The tune was published in English Country Songs [sic: English County Songs] (1893), an anthology compiled by Lucy E. Broadwood and J. A. Fuller Maitland. After having…